Lens-Artists Challenge #410 | #125 Looking Back – Wabi Sabi

Its Sofia’s turn to introduce this weeks challenge, and I love it!

“For the last Looking Back challenge of the year, I’m going to be a little bit cheeky. The Lens-Artists Challenge that I went for was called You Pick It. The twist is, I’ve picked Tina’s choice: Wabi Sabi. So, unlike the original challenge #125, I want you to focus on this subject alone.” Check out Sofia’s post and images, nature truly is incredible!

I had to look up the meaning of Wabi Sabi;

Wabi-sabi in photography is the art of finding beauty in imperfection, impermanence, and incompleteness. Instead of chasing clinical sharpness, symmetry, or flawless digital polish, it values the quiet, authentic character of real life and natural decay. [1, 2, 3]

Core Concepts

• Wabi: Refers to rustic simplicity, humility, and living quietly. In a photo, it means focusing on modest, everyday, and overlooked subjects rather than grand or luxury spectacles.
• Sabi: Refers to the beauty and patina that come with age, wear, and the passage of time. In a photo, it is captured through rust, peeling paint, weathered wood, cracked ceramics, or mossy stones. [1, 2, 3, 4]

I thought of a few different things when this theme came up, there are two directions I think I am going to go.

1. Turkey Point Provincial Park

We went camping at Turkey Point in May this year, freshly spring and many leaves still on the ground from the wintering since the fall. Fallen trees, branches, acorns and the chipmunks finding their home within. Other than the water photo, all others are near or at our camp site, it was such a beautiful reset in nature!

Fallen branches and drift wood along the shoreline.

GROWTH UPON DECAY – We can learn so much from nature!

He was so adorable, even sat for me to have a little photo shoot of him!

I followed to see where he went, and found he had a little burrow inside the fallen tree trunk. I left him alone once I saw he was unloading his goods there!

1. Cottage on the Snowmobile Trail

My husband and brother in law, knew of this very old little log cottage off the snowmobile trail in a town over. Its adorable and has a guest book inside for anyone who stops. I love the small town country feel of that!

Thank you Sofia, I love these images and am excited to share them for this theme!